Froakie Line/XY
Froakie is available as the Water-type starter in Aquacorde Town, received from Tierno. The very star of the Gen VI Super Smash Bros is likely the most known Kalos starter ever, and its fame actually doesn't outlive its usefulness by far. With Greninja's Water-typing, which is excellent defensively even with its mediocre-to-balanced defensive stats, and the incredibly many TM moves it has access to, the line is easily one of the few that really don't need to try hard to find a spot on the team, even more so thanks to its starter status. Even some of the very early TMs in the game can be learned and proficiently used by Frogadier, and getting to Greninja status opens up an even wider range of choices. Naturally, as it is a Water-type and a jack of all trades, it will hardly be a master of any of them, and the Water-type options will offer it competition in the long run; still, as a consolidated team member by then, Greninja is highly unlikely to ever be useless in any given team, or to fall short in raw offensive power. Important Matchups * Shauna (Aquacorde Town): Bubble. That's it. This fight should be an absolute no-brainer. * Gym #1 - Viola (Santalune City, Bug-type): With Froakie's best moves being Bubble for Vivillon and Quick Attack for Surskit, this fight is actually going to be fairly hard. Surskit itself won't do a lot of damage, but Vivillon has Infestation, and coming off its high Special Attack it's actually fairly threatening. If Froakie is your best option here, you should grind until level 14 if you can, and get Water Pulse; if you can't, bring plenty of Potions with you. * Professor Sycamore (Lumiose City): * Tierno (Route 5): * Tierno and Trevor (Route 7, tag battle with Serena): * Gym #2 - Grant (Cyllage City, Rock-type): Tyrunt is neutral to Water Pulse, so it might get off a Rock Tomb before going down; its Attack is remarkable, but Frogadier should be able to take it. Watch out for your health levels against Amaura, however: even though it is weak to Water, its defensive stats are pretty good and its Refrigerate-boosted Take Down is actually nothing to joke at, even with the Ice resistance: it does almost as much damage as STAB Rock Tomb. Still, it's a matchup Frogadier should be able to win. * Korrina (Geosenge Town, Fighting-type): * Serena/Calem (Tower of Mastery): * Gym #3 - Korrina (Shalour City, Fighting-type): Do NOT evolve your Frogadier before this fight. The Eviolite is available in Shalour City, so if Frogadier is your best option against Korrina, give it the item and go with Aerial Ace. Eviolite Frogadier will take almost three times less damage from Korrina's attacks as Greninja, which would have the added Fighting weakness; her Pokémon should still be defeated as soon as possible, with as little healing as possible in between, as they all have Power-Up Punch and can become very dangerous easily if they get enough power-ups off. * Korrina (Tower of Mastery, Fighting-type): * Serena/Calem (Coumarine City): * Gym #4 - Ramos (Coumarine City, Grass-type): Obviously a bad matchup for both Frogadier and Greninja, and Frogadier even more so, with Jumpluff carrying Bullet Seed and the other two carrying Grass Knot. However, a Greninja with Acrobatics (and, obviously, no held item) might actually pull off a good sweep, as supereffective Acrobatics is even more powerful than their own supereffective STAB Grass Knot, thanks to Greninja being a lightweight. Naturally, choosing another Pokémon is advised, especially against the very bulky and fairly powerful Gogoat; however, if you're in a pinch, Acrobatics should do. * Aliana (Kalos Power Plant): * Gym #5 - Clemont (Lumiose City, Electric-type): NO. The least dangerous attack you can get thrown to the face is Emolga's Volt Switch, which still deals a huge load of damage for what it is and the species it's from. Magneton has Sturdy, meaning it won't go down to one Dig (or any other move); Heliolisk might, with its frail Defense, but it's a risk that you will likely not find worth taking if you have better options, as Greninja will face a certain death in the event that the OHKO is not scored. * Serena/Calem (Route 14): * Gym #6 - Valerie (Laverre City, Fairy-type): Dig or Surf should work well against Mawile, which has no Fairy STAB; both Mr. Mime and Sylveon, however, do, and they're also sturdy enough to take a hit and OHKO Greninja right back. Poison Jab is an option, but it's not terribly likely to OHKO Mr. Mime and Sylveon will most likely survive one hit, making the gamble very dangerous once more. Use something else if you can help it. * Celosia and Bryony (Poké Ball Factory): * Mable (Frost Cavern): * Serena/Calem (Anistar City): * Gym #7 - Olympia (Anistar City, Psychic-type): * Lysandre battle #1 (Lysandre Labs): * Aliana (Lysandre Labs): * Celosia (Lysandre Labs): * Bryony (Lysandre Labs): * Mable (Lysandre Labs): * Xerosic (Lysandre Labs): * Lysandre battle #2 (Team Flare Secret HQ): * Xerneas (Team Flare Secret HQ, X only): * Yveltal (Team Flare Secret HQ, Y only): * Lysandre battle #3 (Team Flare Secret HQ): * Professor Sycamore (Couriway Town): * Shauna (Route 19): * Tierno (Route 19): * Trevor (Route 19): * Gym #8 - Wulfric (Snowbelle City, Ice-type): * Serena/Calem (Victory Road): * Elite Four Wikstrom (Pokémon League, Ironworks Chamber, Steel-type): * Elite Four Malva (Pokémon League, Blazing Chamber, Fire-type): * Elite Four Drasna (Pokémon League, Dragonmark Chamber, Dragon-type): * Elite Four Siebold (Pokémon League, Flood Chamber, Water-type): * Champion Diantha (Pokémon League, Radiant Chamber): Moves Froakie starts off with Pound, Growl, and Bubble. The buff received by Bubble makes it more than viable for the beginning of the game, and Pound will serve right against Water-types. At level 8, it learns Quick Attack, a nice priority upgrade over Pound, although with Froakie's Speed it will rarely matter; Lick comes at level 10, and it's moderately useful for catching, not being a powerful move. The first remarkable upgrade comes at level 14, with Water Pulse; this move is excellent for a good while in the game, having a respectable BP of 90 and the confusion chance. After evolution, Frogadier learns Smokescreen at 20, which is not really all that useful; however, Round at level 23 will provide a much better alternative to Quick Attack for anything that resists Water. Fling comes at level 28, but should just be ignored. Then, Smack Down at 33 can be considered, but it's very likely you will have better alternatives at that point in the game - last but not least, Rock Tomb. Right after evolution, Greninja learns Water Shuriken at 36; this move can be useful for physically-oriented starters, but is more often than not outclassed by Water Pulse, and Surf when it becomes available, plus Greninja is so fast that it will hardly ever need priority. It then gets Substitute at 43, which will very likely not be useful at all, given Greninja's not so good defenses; Extrasensory, at 49, provides a very neat coverage boost instead, especially for Dark monolockers who are looking for a response to Fighting-types. Double Team comes at 52, but is a fairly irrelevant move, and available via TM earlier than that; Haze comes at 56, and you can consider it situationally, if your Greninja must fight enemies that can set up against you. Hydro Pump comes at level 60, and can be preferred over Surf for higher power, but at the cost of a lower accuracy. Night Slash is the only Dark-type STAB it gets by level without Heart Scales, and should definitely be kept; it is, however, better relearned as soon as the player reaches Dendemille Town, as it's also a level 1 move for Greninja. Lastly, at level 75, Water Shuriken comes round again. There is an unbelievably vast selection of TMs Greninja can learn; you will always be hurting for more than four spaces. As with any Water-type, Ice Beam or Blizzard is a must, especially if you have no other answers to Dragon-types; Greninja's STAB of choice can be either Surf or Waterfall, depending on which attacking stat is higher. The other STAB can be obtained in the form of Thief even before evolution, then Night Slash from the move tutor, and even Dark Pulse later on, for specially-oriented ninja frogs. Dig is a great middle-game move and provides an answer to Electric-types, but Greninja will hopefully not need to fight any. Aerial Ace works similarly for Fighting- and Grass-types, and can also be upgraded to Acrobatics in Coumarine City, for the moderate price of not letting Greninja hold an item. Rock Slide also provides great coverage, U-Turn is best on Set mode when switches can be necessary at any given point, and Grass Knot complements its Water STAB well, but will also overlap with a good number of Water matchups, therefore only being useful situationally. Recommended moveset: Surf / Waterfall, Night Slash / Dark Pulse, Ice Beam, Rock Slide / Acrobatics / Grass Knot Other Froakie's stats Frogadier's stats Greninja's stats * What Nature do I want? Greninja's versatility will make it work essentially with any nature. Whatever boosts Special Attack will go well with its special movepool, and whatever boosts Attack will go well with its physical movepool. Neutral natures work in both ways, as do natures that only affect defenses and/or Speed. Greninja's Speed is also high enough to not suffer from any potential nature nerfing. * At what point in the game should I be evolved? Froakie should become a Frogadier at Parfum Palace or thereabouts, for better in-battle rendition, and either way definitely before the Grant battle. It should then be a Greninja before Clemont, though in that specific battle, it won't matter a lot whether it's evolved or not, as the matchup is bad either way. * How good is the Froakie line in a Nuzlocke? It's very versatile, as its hidden ability would suggest, and generally finds a good niche in just about any team, thanks to its starter status and very varied movepool. If you're looking for a more specialised role, however, there will likely be better suited Water-types, as they aren't that rare anywhere, and this is one of Greninja's weak points. * Weaknesses: Grass, Electric, Fighting (neutrality if not Greninja), Bug (neutrality if not Greninja), Fairy (neutrality if not Greninja) * Resistances: Fire, Water, Ice, Steel, Ghost (neutrality if not Greninja), Dark (neutrality if not Greninja) * Immunities: Psychic (neutrality if not Greninja) * Neutralities: Normal, Flying, Poison, Ground, Rock, Dragon Category:Water-Type Category:Dark-Type Category:Kalos Category:X/Y